Hasta La Ideas

We’ve got two post-scripts from last week’s DesignersAccord Town Hall get-together at Smart Design.

Amy Johannigman: Designers Accord Town Hall Meeting

Last Thursday the Designers Accord held its first New York City town hall meeting in Smart Design’s Chelsea offices. Designers Accord is a multidisciplinary coalition of designers and other professionals, which aims to spark collaboration and “create positive environmental and social impact.” These town hall meetings began last year on the west coast to serve as a venue for face-to-face interaction between individuals eager to share their ideas about sustainable design, and about how to inspire the creative community to think and act in socially and environmentally responsible ways.
This crowd of designers and other sustainable enthusiasts alike gathered for some light fare and settled into an informal discussion led by Jen van der Meer, a board member of Designers Accord, and ten other presenters. In light of the Designers Accord’s mission, presenters discussed an array of issues that define the opportunities and challenges currently facing the green design movement, at both local and global levels. Here are three key issues they raised: the imperative of knowledge-sharing projects, the initiative to extend social design causes, and the right balance between open-sourcing green technologies and private property rights for developers.

Knowledge-Sharing Projects
Andrew Personette, of EcoSystems, shared his concern for the lack sustainable education. His solution is the upcoming “Design Green Now” series coming next month to local New York City design schools. The free three-part series will feature New York City industry buffs exploring the themes of materials, energy, and waste in an effort to empower the design community with sustainable design know-how and rhetoric. Be sure to check out the Design Green Now site for more details of this April happening.

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